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The 57-year-old businessman said he was forced to dial 999 after the petite doctor left him covered in dozens of bleeding welts, inspired by her alleged enjoyment of the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy (pictured)

He said the couple went to Ann Summers and bought certain items, including a spanking paddle. Mr Austin also gave his lover a £500 Ann Summers gift voucher and bought a special Christmas cracker from the sex shop which was filled with lacy underwear.

I went to bed and was more or less asleep when she entered the room raging and started hitting me with a garden cane.

Multi-millionaire businessman James Austin, Croydon Crown Court

The court heard that Mr Austin signed a gift: ‘Personal spanker to naughty Dr Elvira’, and she signed-off an email to him as: ‘Personal Spanker’. Mr Austin said at first it was Dr Blakemore who was spanked, adding: ‘It began with just hands and then the paddle and Elvira was the recipient.’

However, their relationship was said in court to have been tempestuous. As it crumbled, Mr Austin held an engagement champagne barbecue last year during which he gave Dr Blakemore a £20,000 ring.

But he claimed she marred the occasion with snide comments and hit him with the cane after he passed out naked in a drunken stupor on their bed.

He claimed: ‘I went to bed and was more or less asleep when she entered the room raging and started hitting me with a garden cane.

The couple began to experiment sexually, after meeting on the internet, after 5ft 5in Dr Blakemore is said to have shown an interest in Fifty Shades Of Grey (pictured)

The couple also went to Ann Summers and bought certain items, including a spanking paddle. Mr Austin also gave his lover a £500 Ann Summers gift voucher and bought a special Christmas cracker from the sex shop which was filled with lacy underwear

‘She was violently hitting me with the cane very many times on the back. There was a cut on my cheek also, but she just kept going and by the end there was blood on the bed.’

Mr Austin did not initially respond to the blows, claiming he was too drunk and drowsy to fully appreciate what was going on. ‘There was a further attack in the lounge. Elvira appeared in the room and she had another go with the same cane,’ he said. ‘When the cane broke she poured some wine on my back and said: “Alcohol is good for the wounds”.’

The court heard Mr Austin dialled 999 after he was hit between 25 and 35 times. When paramedics arrived they said he should go to hospital for treatment. The jury was shown a photograph of his back, which was covered in red marks down to the waistline.

In her defence, Dr Blakemore, who was born in Chechnya and gave up an £85,000-a-year GP role in Suffolk to move in with her fiancé, told the court the spanking was consensual. Pictured, Jamie Dornan as Christian Grey

One officer, PC Daniel Madigan, noted Mr Austin said: ‘I asked her to stop, but she didn’t. She had a look of hate in her eyes, but I love her.’

Dr Blakemore, however, told the officers he was lying when she was arrested.

In her defence, Dr Blakemore, who was born in Chechnya and gave up an £85,000-a-year GP role in Suffolk to move in with her fiancé, told the court the spanking was consensual.

She said: ‘He told me to get on with it and I came in and sat on him and caned him.

‘The point of caning is the contrast between painful stimulation and touching the body and he said, “Go on baby.”

‘I poured champagne on his back after. It’s part of the pleasure, the cold champagne cools the skin. It’s a nice sensation. James was making noises like he was enjoying it.’

Speaking in general, she said the couple agreed the safe word ‘stop’ and that she frequently sat on her fiancé’s back, hitting him. ‘I willingly participated but I did not really enjoy it, whereas James enjoyed being spanked, and on his birthday his friend gave him a whip as a present,’ she said.

Dr Blakemore, who now runs cosmetic clinics in Essex and the Swiss resort of Verbier, was also accused of assaulting Mr Austin a month later. She was alleged to have punched him, causing him to lock himself in a bathroom. But the jury of nine women and three men also cleared her of this charge.

Mr Austin is the founder of BPS Access Solutions, a specialist ladder and scaffolding supplier. He drives a £157,000 Mercedes supercar and his home has an indoor swimming pool, gym and sauna.

The couple have now split up and Dr Blakemore lives in Holland-on-Sea, Essex.

Mr Austin told the jury the couple’s relationship had been going through a difficult period when the incident occurred. He had cancelled their joint account after Dr Blakemore made ‘extravagant’ purchases and he had received a legal letter demanding the house and 20 per cent of his income.

He gave no reaction as his former lover wept in court when she was cleared.